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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27289615">Tangled</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/VaultOfMelkurMistress/pseuds/VaultOfMelkurMistress'>VaultOfMelkurMistress</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Vault Stories [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Doctor Who (2005)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Feelings, Humour, Love, Missy's needs, Softness, The Doctor opens his eyes, The Doctor untangles hair and his feelings, haircut</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 17:48:29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,803</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27289615</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/VaultOfMelkurMistress/pseuds/VaultOfMelkurMistress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doctor realises Missy needs a haircut - which leads to him facing the fact that he needs to take better care of her. He cares for her, they talk, he realises things need to change if he is going to help her. Twissy softness and care and some humour. Out of the vault briefly. It's got humour and softness.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Twelfth Doctor/Missy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Vault Stories [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1944550</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Twissy Stories</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Tangled</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/ineternity/gifts">ineternity</a>.</li>



    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was a pleasant afternoon - Missy didn’t know what day it was but she had little care to know - linear time was the most tedious thing. She <em> would </em> have known if she hadn’t dismantled her clock and used it to make a wonderful glitter gun, which she then fired at Nardole when he announced, with far too much nonchalance to be addressing the Queen of Evil, that there was ZERO CHANCE of the Doctor saying yes to her perfectly reasonable request for a bazooka. </p><p>The fact that she added superglue to the glitter was beside the point. It suited him. He should have thanked her.</p><p>She sat comfortably, sipping tea, her eyes flitting up to the Doctor with an exaggerated display of boredom as he focused for yet another extended length of time at the chess pieces in front of him. She placed her cup down, deliberately loudly on the saucer, and brought ehr hand to her mouth, yawning loudly she resisting the urge to giggle when he sighed, equally as loudly. </p><p>“I am concentrating Missy,” he said.</p><p>“You have been concentrating so long that I’m surprised your queen hasn't got up and walked off by now. Show the lady some attention honey.”</p><p>The Doctor looked up, meeting her eyes, his mouth opening in readiness to defend himself when he realised that she was in fact, talking about chess pieces.</p><p>Probably. </p><p>She gave him a knowing expression that sent a stab of guilt through him that he chose not to analyse, and pushed firmly away. She frowned suddenly then, her hands moving to her hair as she took out multiple hair pins, one after the other, holding one in her teeth as she piled her hair on top of her head, stabbing a hair pin with futility through her large volume of hair. </p><p>“I need more hair pins, and hairspray. Stand here and watch me use it if you must, but it’s very hard to look this fabulous without hair products. All my amazingness tries to escape,” she paused, letting her hair drop from her grasp with a sigh. “See, there it goes, escaping.”</p><p>“I’ll bring hairspray, but I’m not leaving it. Nardole has never recovered from the flame thrower incident.”</p><p>“That’s really on him Doctor, hardly my responsibility if he is SO sensitive.”</p><p>“It IS your responsibility when you set a trap specifically for him, involving shooting flames from a home made gun.”</p><p>“Well if you’re going to pedantic about it,” she said rolling her eyes.</p><p>“Responsibility Missy, is important.”</p><p>“I am not responsible for Nardy being jumpy anymore than I’m responsible for squishing an ant walking about outdoors. Do you inspect the ground for ants, crawling along with a magnifying glass in case you accidentally step on one?” she said, blowing a puff of air out at the stray strand of hair that fell over her face. “If you take on responsibility for everything all the time, considering cause and effect, you would never leave your TARDIS, or even your bedroom.”</p><p>“This is hardly comparable! Accidentally stepping on an ant is not the same as deliberately building a flame thrower to terrorise Nardole ON PURPORSE.”</p><p>“Oh, well, if you’re gonna be like THAT,” she said, rolling her eyes and smirking. “You’ll have to take me outside and test run my ant theory.”</p><p>“Not happening. Your hair has grown a lot lately - how do you usually maintain so much hair?”</p><p>“Great change of subject Doctor, very skilfully done, Didn't notice a thing. I hypnotise the worlds best hairdressers usually, so if you could get my chosen team of stylists here ASAP that’d be nice.”</p><p>“I’m not enabling you to abduct and hypnotise a team of stylists.”</p><p>“Well I can’t exactly do it myself, have you seen how much hair I have going on here? This body is really making up for the lack of a beard.”</p><p>“I’ll do it,” the Doctor said, nodding so sagely that she would have laughed had he not just suggested going anywhere near her hair with scissors.</p><p>She laughed. He didn’t. She grew serious, </p><p>“Doctor. No.”</p><p>She merely sat and looked at him in horror when he returned later, laying out a hair brush, comb, spray bottle, hair products and three different types of scissors. </p><p>“I am perfectly capable of doing this myself,” she said, raising her hands to her head and pulling out multiple hairpins, dropping them all to her lap before finally removing a concealed tie, her thick, voluminous hair falling down below her hips. </p><p>She instantly ran her hands through it, meeting resistance within seconds, chewing her lip as she very slowly worked her fingers through thick matted hair in vain. </p><p>“I think Missy, you need a little help to tame your hair - let me. I’ve watched videos on this all night, I know how to trim to the length you choose and how to get through the tangles. Humour me?”</p><p>Missy only gave him a look of utter distaste at his mere suggestion. </p><p>He took her silence as acceptance and placed some cushions onto the floor, bringing all the hair products down to the ground beside him and sitting, his legs stretched out either side of the row of cushions as he patted the cushion in front of him. </p><p>Now this raised her interest, This was entirely more snuggly than she had imagined so suddenly it felt hard to object at all. She stood, hiding the smile that wanted to play on her lips as she turned, sitting down and shuffling back, leaning back against his chest with a satisfied sigh. </p><p>He smiled, seeing all of the tension she so often carried, leaving her in an instant and cursed himself yet again for their mutual misfortune that she was so affectionate and had such great need for physical contact yet he so indifferent to it in their current bodies. He ran his hands down her arms and placed his hands over hers and she took a deep, happy breath, murmuring as he kissed her head through her tangled hair. </p><p>“I’m sorry Missy, I know you need more from me, so much more. I’m trying,” he said. These things were so much easier to say when he didn't look her in the eye. </p><p>“I know,” she said with a sigh. “It doesn't have to be complicated you know honey, just you and me just like always. If you can’t feel comfortable with your best friend, then we have a problem.”</p><p>Her head dropped back against his shoulder and he wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly. “I do like this, when it’s just us, no chaos, no noise, just us.”</p><p>“I miss the chaos, but I don't mind trading it for us. Just do this more ok? Be here more. It’s...lonely here,” she said quietly, because it was so easy to voice these feelings when she directed her insecurities to the expanse of the room and not to his gaze. </p><p>“I will,” he said as he hugged her against him. “I promise. Now, let’s take care of your hair.”</p><p>“Oh,” she said, and he could almost here her eyes roll. “Hoped you’d forgotten about that. I'm trusting you a LOT here Doctor.”</p><p>“I know,” he whispered. “I wont let you down.”</p><p>She smiled slightly as they both let their gazes drift to the emptiness of the room in front of them. </p><p>He shuffled back and tilted her head down a little before starting spray her hair thoroughly with a product Nardole had explained worked great for detangling. Nardole had a wealth of knowledge about hair products - a surprising turn of events but one that the Doctor was relieved about as his one trip to the shop had resulted in him pacing up and down two entire aisles of hair products in utter confusion. </p><p>He began attempting to comb her hair from her roots, downwards, finding multiple points of resistance. Realising this was a big job, he went slowly, a section at a time, working slowly and as gently as possible, silently picking up the scissors so she didn't knock his confidence with an unhelpful comment at a crucial moment.<br/>
<br/>
He snipped carefully upwards through the mats in her hair, his heart dropping when he realised how poorly she had been taking care of herself. He combed gently, relieved as he worked in silent concentration, that the products Nardole had recommended were working well as the comb began to glide through more easily.</p><p>“It’s all about layers Missy, that’s what I learned in my research.”</p><p>“Your research was Google, Doctor, wasn’t it?”</p><p>“Well, yes, but I learned some great tips!” he said with a confidence she didn't share. “I know how to cut layers - long layers, so you can use any of your favourite styles.”</p><p>His hands worked onto her hair delicately and carefully, wanting nothing more than to help her while hating the horrible flash of reality that hit him when he realised that he simply hadn't been this close to her for long enough for a long while, to have realised she hadn’t been looking after herself. He vowed silently to change that. He knew he shouldn’t make that vow silently, but it was all he felt able to at that moment</p><p>He sprayed her hair thoroughly with water until finally it was saturated enough for him to massage in a deep conditioning mask, the texture softening and untangling between his fingers much easier then. </p><p>“I thought all you needed was a few inches off - but it’s nowhere near as simple. Not when you have all this...depth and layers, see you need nourishment and much more gentler handling and it’s looking so much healthier already.”</p><p>“Yeah,” she said quietly. “Glad you figured that out.”</p><p>“Took me a while,” he said, hesitating before he leaned down and kissed her cheek, the flash of love and joy that shone from her, reaching his mind instantly, bringing a hope to his own hearts that he hadn't realised was missing. </p><p>He tilted her head back, a towel supporting her neck as she rested back on his thigh, a bowl behind her as he poured warm water over her hair, repeatedly until he was sure the conditioning mask was rinsed off, before sitting her up, a towel draped around her shoulders as he ran a comb through, trimming the length to just above her waist and running the comb through as he cut in, taking great care with the long layers that he had watched multiple videos about the night before, determined to give her the very best care that she deserved.</p><p>He dried her hair with a small hairdryer, his fingers massaging her scalp and running through the length of her thick, much softer hair, much more easily now. She brought her knees up, folding her arms and resting them on her knees as she lost herself in the soothing sensations of the Doctor’s touch. She barely noticed when the hair dryer stopped, only uttering a murmur of protest as his hands left her hair. </p><p>He chuckled and passed her a mirror, much larger than the compact she normally used - following the incident where she demonstrated to Nardole how easily she could build a time inversion device with the Doctor’s stolen sonic screwdriver, broken shards of mirror and Nardole's left arm. </p><p>She sometimes regretted that, given the small mirror she now lived with, but the delicious shriek Nardole had produced made it all worth it. </p><p>She looked carefully in the mirror turning her head from side to side and broke into a smile, impressed. The Doctor made no secret of how relieved and happy he was that she was pleased. She turned, putting down the mirror and their eyes finally met, her own sparkling now, and his filled with relief to see the light within her again. </p><p>“You’ll have to take me out somewhere now I’m looking so nice Doctor,” she said, winking.</p><p>He raised an eyebrow, conflict shooting through him. “Maybe soon.”</p><p>“Don't tease me Doctor, that’s cruel,” she said, her eyes dropping from his to focus on the comb, the bowl of water, anywhere but him.</p><p>“I’m not teasing Missy, I wouldn't do that to you. Perhaps you could spend some time in my TARDIS, maybe we could take a few trips, get off world - security measures in place, I can’t take any risks...but this, it was necessary...but it’s not good for too long.”</p><p>She battled not to allow the hope buried deep within her hearts to rise up. He was lost in the intimacy of the moment, she refused to grab at scraps of hope that he dangled in front of her. </p><p>“You have a beautiful mind Missy, we can only do this for so long until it becomes...unhealthy. You haven’t been taking care of yourself.”</p><p>“Nice of you to notice,” she said.</p><p>“I didn't,” he said, with a flood if guilt consuming him. “But I do now and I think you perhaps deserve better.”</p><p>“Perhaps honey?” she said, breaking the easy of their words floating into the expanse of the emptiness of the vault as she turned around the face him.</p><p>He took a deep breath, releasing it slowly as he leaned forwards, placing a kiss on her forehead before he stood, holing out his hand. </p><p>She took it, confusion shooting through her as he pulled her to her feet, excitement and fear flashing in his eyes. Such an alluring combination that intrigued her against her better judgement to remain cynical about his promises to do better. </p><p>“Right now, you and I Missy, my TARDIS is right outside the door.”</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>“Well...laziness I suppose, I had a few things to carry…”</p><p>“No you idiot,” she said breathlessly as she thumped him arm. “Why now?”</p><p>“Because you need it? Because I’ve been wrong, this isn't how to help you. You have to go back, you understand that?”</p><p>“Of course,” she said quietly, still refusing to allow herself any shred of hope that she would see different walls, breath different air. </p><p>“Let’s go then,” he said, the hint of anxiety that spilled from him making her smile just a little. </p><p>He walked with her to the doors, her hand clasped in his as he opened the doors with a deep breath and stepped inside his waiting TARDIS. </p><p>She felt a flash of utter joy at the change of scenery, momentarily overwhelmed by the sensations - picking up every little environmental difference; sounds, vibrations, the slightly metallic smell of recently oiled machinery. She was unaware of just how long she had remained motionless, absorbing everything.</p><p>“Are you ok Missy?” he said, his voice close to her, making her blink and shake her head, breaking her own spell. </p><p>“Yes, of course,” she said.</p><p>“Good, good, then how about one quick trip?” he said, stepping round the console and tapping in coordinates with obvious excitement etched onto his face. </p><p>“Where to?” she asked, suddenly feeling wholly unprepared to go off world at all. “Not so sure we should test out how diminished my homicidal tendencies are honey…”</p><p>“He looked at her, frowning as her nonchalant expression gave way to a deep concern as her voice lowered to a whisper. “I don’t trust myself Doctor.”</p><p>“Hey, no Missy it’s ok, I wouldn’t do anything you’re not ready for. I promise you - a containment field just outside the doors, right into space, the cosmos surrounding us - light years from anywhere, just you and I and the stars. Do you feel up to that?"</p><p>Missy visibly relaxed, walking around the console to stand beside him, “I think I would like that very much. I could postpone my plan to rework my latest composition for that perhaps.”</p><p>“I apologise that I've locked you out of everything - next time, you can drive,” he said as he flicked a couple of switched and moved to pull the lever.</p><p>“You really don’t need to engage the secondary time sensor, and why do you not run a sequential check on time shifts….Doctor…” she reached out, shaking her head as she remembered the bio lock. “You really need to…”</p><p>“You're definitely driving on the way back,” he said, disengaging the bio lock and gesturing to the lever. </p><p>She laughed, pulling the lever - an afternoon spent with the Doctor under the stars AND she was driving home, this day really had turned out well.</p><p>Outside, as they stepped onto an invisible floor, he smiled as she skipped ahead and spun around, her arms outstretched and her still loose hair, softer now and untangled, flying around, a look of absolute joy on her face - he realised then that perhaps she did see the beauty after all. </p><p>Not that he would tell her that. But they both knew, deep down, that she did. </p><p><br/>
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